The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Venkaiah Naidu, BJP activists arrested

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Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Venkaiah Naidu, BJP activists arrested

Protest demanding restoration of land to Amarnath Shrine Board

-Photo: Mohd.Yousuf

At receiving end: A policeman chasing a BJP activist during the protest near Raj Bhavan Road in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: For the second consecutive day on Tuesday, several BJP functionaries, including former national president M.Venkaiah Naidu were arrested on Tuesday when they made a token attempt to march towards Raj Bhavan demanding restoration of land to Amarnath Shrine Board which was cancelled after protests broke out against allotment.

Addressing the activists in front of the engineer-in-chief’s office at Irrummanzil before their arrest, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu accused the government of bowing to pressure from pro-Pakistani separatist forces in revoking the order, allotting 100 acres to the Board. Charging the Congress and its allies with “insulting” Hindus on numerous occasions, he accused Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Left parties of not uttering a word on the Amarnath issue due to “vote-bank politics”.

Propaganda

Stating that it was not a Hindu-Muslim issue, he said that no Muslim had opposed the allotment of the land. He said the separatists indulged in propaganda that Muslims would become a minority in the Valley and the ecological balance would be disturbed if the land was given.

He said the Jammu & Kashmir Governor N. N.Vohra had no power to declare unilaterally that the land was not needed without convening a meeting of the Board committee.

Mr. Naidu said the Centre had neglected and discriminated against Jammu region for years with the Valley getting all the funds and attention.

He said that although more than half the voters were from Jammu region, it had only 37 MLAs as against 46 representing the Valley.

Describing the decision to march towards Muzaffarabad as “treason”, he said that such actions would have to be suppressed with an iron hand.

On the cash-for-votes scam, he said the culprits were “caught red-handed” and demanded exemplary action against those involved in it for insulting democracy.

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